I need to find out the specification on my laser.

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To make a long story short, I owned a green, <5mW laser pointer for pointing at stars and such. But it was in a cheap case so it broke after about a year. My grandmother wanted to replace it for Christmas, and I'm not sure what type of laser this is.

I know for a fact that it's 450nm, but I'm not sure what the wattage is. It's from an eBay listing where it's advertised as a 1W laser, but I don't know how trustworthy that is.

I'm on a High School Robotics team, and the head coach is the Head of the Physics Department at the local college; most of his work involves lasers and/or plasma in some way. When I told him about the laser, he was very skeptical, "Unless you have to plug the laser into the wall to use it, there's no way it's 1W."

The laser itself seems to be rather powerful, it can burn through most thin dark materials, and will put burn marks on the surface of wood.

Any advice or knowledge in helping to identify the laser is appreciated. Also is there different values of a laser that would be measured in watts? Like output strength vs power draw? That might explain the contradictions in what I've been told the laser is.

Well-known member

I'd go with it being 1W, given the description and the fact that it can burn wood. It's impossible to tell accurately without a calibrated laser power meter, but it's definitely far more powerful than 5mW.

Do you have appropriate laser safety glasses to use with this? 1W presents a serious eye hazard.

Well-known member

I find these physics profs that offer wrong information to be a blight on the science. One would certainly hope that someone who is supposed to be experienced with lasers to offer more accurate information.

Well-known member

To make a long story short, I owned a green, <5mW laser pointer for pointing at stars and such. But it was in a cheap case so it broke after about a year. My grandmother wanted to replace it for Christmas, and I'm not sure what type of laser this is.

I know for a fact that it's 450nm, but I'm not sure what the wattage is. It's from an eBay listing where it's advertised as a 1W laser, but I don't know how trustworthy that is.

I'm on a High School Robotics team, and the head coach is the Head of the Physics Department at the local college; most of his work involves lasers and/or plasma in some way. When I told him about the laser, he was very skeptical, "Unless you have to plug the laser into the wall to use it, there's no way it's 1W."

The laser itself seems to be rather powerful, it can burn through most thin dark materials, and will put burn marks on the surface of wood.

Any advice or knowledge in helping to identify the laser is appreciated. Also is there different values of a laser that would be measured in watts? Like output strength vs power draw? That might explain the contradictions in what I've been told the laser is.

In terms of eye protection, I was going to order some color tinted acrylic and cut custom sized lenses on a CNC router for a pair of goggles I already own. I already have some red acrylic but if that doesn't work to my satisfaction I'll buy some specifically for this wavelength laser.

As for my Coach, he's been working with lasers for over 30 years, so I'm kind of doubtful that he would be misinformed on what wattage the laser functions at. Is there any chance he was referring to a different aspect of the laser?

I'm new to the forums, so I still don't quite how it all works, I'll do my best to supply more information on my profile.

In terms of eye protection, I was going to order some color tinted acrylic and cut custom sized lenses on a CNC router for a pair of goggles I already own. I already have some red acrylic but if that doesn't work to my satisfaction I'll buy some specifically for this wavelength laser.

As for my Coach, he's been working with lasers for over 30 years, so I'm kind of doubtful that he would be misinformed on what wattage the laser functions at. Is there any chance he was referring to a different aspect of the laser?

I'm new to the forums, so I still don't quite how it all works, I'll do my best to supply more information on my profile.

Buy proper laser safety glasses for the wavelength you need, don't go with coloured acrylic. The Eagle Pair from Survival Lasers are certified and reasonably priced, many members here have tested them and they've proven reliable.

No, your coach is misinformed. Obviously he hasn't been keeping up to date on some of the advances made in semiconductor technology over the last several years.

Ahh, that's actual laser safety rated acrylic, not just some random coloured acrylic. That would work, though I'd still recommend just going for a proper set of laser safety glasses. The Eagle Pair are also available with a wider wavelength range and higher OD (Optical Density, the amount by which incident light is attenuated for a given wavelength), making them useful for a wider range of lasers as well as higher powers.

Well-known member

The first time I showed my 1 watt A140 build to one of the engineers here @ work he very bluntly called bullsh*t on my claim of 'just over a watt of output'. He was wearing shorts so I dotted him on the leg. He became a believer very quickly.